{"id":2,"date":"2010-10-01T22:17:25","date_gmt":"2010-10-01T22:17:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.davidword.com\/?page_id=2"},"modified":"2026-09-24T07:52:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T07:52:14","slug":"about","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.davidword.com\/?page_id=2","title":{"rendered":"About me"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

return to home page<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

SHORT BIO <\/strong>(87 words)
David Lee Morgan is a\u00a0London-based\u00a0performance poet.\u00a0He has won the London, UK, and BBC Poetry\u00a0Slam\u00a0Championships, and his work has appeared onstage\u00a0and\u00a0at\u00a0festivals around the world.\u00a0He was longlisted for the 2026 Forward Prize:\u00a0Best Single Poem \u2013 Performed.\u00a0He is a longstanding member of the Writers Guild of Great Britain\u00a0and\u00a0holds a Ph.D. in Creative Writing\u00a0from Newcastle University. His provocative work tackles complex themes\u00a0and is praised for\u00a0its\u00a0passionate, intellectually rigorous performance.\u00a0Links to performance and published books:\u00a0www.davidword.com<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n

<\/a>BIO<\/h2>\n

<\/a>David Lee Morgan<\/strong>\u00a0has travelled the world with his saxophone as a performance poet and musician. His provocative work tackles complex themes and is praised for its passionate, intellectually rigorous performance. He has won the London, UK, and BBC Slam Poetry Championships, as well as a fair number of club slams in the UK and the US, including Soul City Arts and the Nuyorican. He was longlisted for the 2026 Forward Prize: Best Single Poem \u2013 Performed. He has featured at poetry festivals and events all over the UK, Europe and the U.S. including StAnza (St. Andrews, Scotland), Lingo (Dublin, Ireland), The NYC Poetry Festival, the Seattle Folk Arts Festival, and the Isle of Wight Festival. Recently, his Brick Lane appearance at the 25th<\/sup>\u00a0anniversary of\u00a0Shikor<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>and Global Poetry<\/em>, performing his original translation of Kazi Nazrul Islam\u2019s much loved poem,\u00a0Bidrohi<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>(The Rebel), went viral on Facebook and was seen by over 10 million viewers.<\/p>\n

He is a longstanding member of the Writers Guild and holds a Ph.D. in Creative Writing from Newcastle University. He lives in London, grew up in the USA, was born in Berlin.<\/p>\n

Back in the US, before crossing the pond, he worked on the railroad, in foundries, forges, shipyards, heavy construction, and as a dishwasher in an Indian restaurant. He\u2019s served as a shop steward in the Labourers Union and in the Molders and Allied Workers.<\/p>\n

BOOKS<\/h2>\n

The River Was a God<\/em> (Stairwell Books)<\/p>\n

\u00a0Science,\u00a0Love and Revolution<\/em> (Bidrohi Books) \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

River No Dam Can Tame<\/em> (Bidrohi Books)<\/p>\n

Building\u00a0a\u00a0Nation\u00a0on Stolen Land <\/em>(Bidrohi Books)<\/p>\n

Poems on Gender<\/em> (Bidrohi Books)<\/p>\n

Uncle Tom\u2019s War<\/em> (Bidrohi Books)<\/p>\n

REVIEWS<\/h2>\n

TIME OUT LONDON *****<\/p>\n

I am awed by Morgan’s passion, his humorous yet enraged intellectual appraisal\u2026 An energetic, clever, passionate survey of human life.<\/p>\n

THE SCOTSMAN ****<\/p>\n

One of those rare, passionate performances… bristling with energy and interesting ideas. If you want a bracing crash course in how to \u201cread history\u2026 with a f***ing blowtorch,\u201d look no further.<\/p>\n

LITRO ARTS MAGAZINE<\/p>\n

He was brilliant. I\u2019ve never seen someone transform so powerfully and fully\u2026. He spits out the words of sacrifice, suffering and revolution, of wisdom and enlightenment. What he says is radical, is political, but it\u2019s also wise.<\/p>\n

THE BRITISH THEATRE GUIDE ****
\u201cAn exceptional one-person show\u2026 Morgan knows his material very well, but aside from the history lesson, his words land. There is a simplicity to the rhythm of the poetry in a conversational style. This is a superior poet with the ability to engage.\u201d<\/p>\n

LANCASTER GUARDIAN *****
With knowledge and wisdom\u2026 took you to a place of conspiracies and the history we are told. It was heart-felt and impassioned. It was powerful and inspiring. I thought it was spectacular! I bought the book!<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

return to home page SHORT BIO (87 words) David Lee Morgan is a\u00a0London-based\u00a0performance poet.\u00a0He has won the London, UK, and BBC Poetry\u00a0Slam\u00a0Championships, and his work has appeared onstage\u00a0and\u00a0at\u00a0festivals around the world.\u00a0He was longlisted for the 2026 Forward Prize:\u00a0Best Single Poem \u2013 Performed.\u00a0He is a longstanding member of the Writers Guild of Great Britain\u00a0and\u00a0holds a Ph.D.… Continue reading About me<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":2,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidword.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidword.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidword.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidword.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidword.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2"}],"version-history":[{"count":31,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidword.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3243,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidword.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2\/revisions\/3243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidword.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}